


he’s the cat’s meow

by tostitos



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Businessmen, Cat Cafés, Cat/Human Hybrids, Crush at First Sight, Cute, Fluff, Hybrids, M/M, cat hybrid hyungwon, this is actually awful, workaholic businessman ki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tostitos/pseuds/tostitos
Summary: Workaholic Yoo Kihyun decides to venture into a hole in the wall cafe, looking for a spot of peace and relaxation, during his lunch break.





	he’s the cat’s meow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wonnietv (heoneybee)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heoneybee/gifts).



> have i ever written a less interesting summary :/  
> anyway, happy birthday to my dearest ru. i’m sorry i’m gifting you this trash, i’m sure this is not the hybrid wonnie fic you ever wanted lmao but it’s here and i hope you find something about it enjoyable

Perhaps it’s the sign — a cute little chalkboard left at the bottom of the stairs, not unlike those outside coffee shops, with round script and sketches of cartoon cat faces that he always spares a glance at on those days that he doesn’t bring his own lunch to work.

Perhaps it’s subliminal — an after effect of listening to Jooheon’s stories of the kittens he recently adopted as his voice carries over cubicle walls.

Perhaps it’s the opportunity for escape — a split decision so detached from the routine he’s been living for months that has started to make his hands shake during late nights behind the bright screen of his computer, yet not horribly reckless.

Perhaps it’s a little of all three that makes Kihyun climb the stairs up to the third floor of the cramped building down the street from his office and push in a warm wood door with a black cat-shaped OPEN sign.

The entrance is all chocolate browns and buttermilk icing accents, full of halloween decorations that have yet to be taken down. It’s nothing much, just a space large enough for a reception counter that leads to a locker room on the right and to the room where Kihyun supposes the actual cafe is on the left.

He enters to the squeak of a meow, an annoyed sound raising above the height of the reception, and he purses his lips at the absence of the staff as he approaches the counter.

How safe is this place for the kittens if there’s one just roaming around outside of the room designated for them, at risk of getting into something that could hurt it? He has half a mind to turn around and leave, but he also wants to make sure the staff knows where they’re lacking. For the good of the animals they keep.

And it’s with that intention that he presses his hands into he reception counter and leans over to scout for the kitten behind it.

He spies the pair of light brown cat ears, turned out at the hint of noise and showcasing their soft white interior, easily. A second later, the cat flinches with another sound, arm banging into the counter, and the cat snaps its head up, bright, amber eyes locking on Kihyun.

The businessman doesn’t notice he’s gasped and withdrawn a bit as well until realization settles and he has the sliver of mind to recognize the irregularity in his breath.

A hybrid.

They stare at each other for a moment with identical wide eyes and parted lips and then the hybrid glances down at his elbow to rub at the stinging spot with another soft meow.

“Sorry,” Kihyun finds himself apologizing without thinking. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Soft brown hair lays in large, slightly messy waves atop the hybrid’s head, the ends teasing the thick lashes lining the top of his eyes. He has the same cheek fat that Jooheon’s kittens do and a round nose that wrinkles as he sighs.

He’s just a little beautiful.

(Perhaps Kihyun’s breath catches again, just a little).

“No, it’s fine,” the hybrid says, shaking his head. “I was distracted and wasn’t sure if I heard someone come in or not.”

His speaking voice is warm, deep, and yet, there’s something about it that’s so light. A small smile breaks through the stone long-term exhaustion had made of Kihyun face at the contrast to the hybrid’s innocent meow.

“And it looks like I surprised you a little bit too,” the hybrid continues as he lifts himself to full height.

Kihyun leans back so he’s not in his face. “Well, I thought you were fully animal so, yeah, it was something of a surprise. Though I guess it shouldn’t be too much of one that a cat cafe is run by an actual cat.”

The hybrid lifts his hands and Kihyun catches sight of a broken figurine of a black cat in a witch hat. As he places the cracked clay off to the side, he offers Kihyun a look, eyebrow raised. His tail rises tall behind him, long with fur the same brown as his ears and speckled with white. Kihyun is more of a dog person, knows more about their behavioral clues, but even he can read the amusement in the motion. “Why leave something like this to humans when I can do it better myself?”

Without expecting a response, Hyungwon slides over a laminated sheet and pushes it in front of Kihyun who remembers he’s in the middle of his lunch break and didn’t come here to make small talk with the pretty cat hybrid that runs the place.

But as he reads over the price breakdowns and the rules of the cafe, he wonders if that doesn’t technically count as blowing off steam with a bunch of kittens.

After paying for half an hour in the cafe and changing out of his shoes into the provided slippers, Kihyun allows himself to be lead into the cafe. At this time, in the middle of the work week, in the middle of the day, Kihyun is the only visitor to this cafe that is a wonderland of soft cushions and strategically placed shelves and scattered toys.

A few heads turn to face the entrance with curiosity before returning to rest, but a tiny grey thing with fat cheeks rolls onto small paws and sprints over in a flash.

Kihyun takes a step back at the excitement, but the hybrid simply chuckles and crouches down to catch the kitten as it leaps.

The kitten quickly scampers out of the hybrid’s hold and hops up onto his shoulder, settling there like this is its favorite spot to be. It begins to purr, nosing at the hybrid’s neck and Kihyun can’t help but succumb to the way he turns fond when the hybrid purrs in return, stroking a finger along the grey kitten’s back.

“This is Misty.” The ears of the kitten draw back at the call of its name and it taps the hybrid’s chest with a wiggling paw.

Kihyun waves a hand at the small ball of fur and smiles. “Hi, Misty.” She eyes him curiously, leaning closer so that she has to hold herself steady with claws in the hybrid’s shirt, and Kihyun feels a coo build in his chest.

He glances up at the hybrid watching them quietly. “And may I ask your name?”

A little surprised at the question, the hybrid blinks, his pupils blowing wide before narrowing again. He smiles, warm and welcoming. “Hyungwon.”

His tail swings behind him, catching Misty’s attention, and he reaches back to hold it still before she can start trying to play with it and hurt herself.

It’s such a cute picture — this tall, adorable cat hybrid holding his tail and this little dust ball of a kitten on his shoulder.

Kihyun might not know just what exactly lead him to visit a cat cafe of all places, but he can tell already that he’ll be back.

“I’m Kihyun,” he says. There’s a brush of something soft at his ankle and he glances down to see a round, orange tabby sniffing at his feet. Crouching, he runs a gentle hand between the cat’s ears. “From that office building down the street.”

Hyungwon absentmindedly plays with the end of his tail, brushing his fingers through the short hairs. There’s still a rumble of a purr in his throat. “It’s nice to meet you, Kihyun from that office building down the street.”

The greeting is silly, but the genuineness of Hyungwon’s smile makes Kihyun’s stomach swoop. It throws him for such a loop that he feels at a loss of what to say until he remembers for the second time that this is his lunch break and explains the feeling away.

“Do you serve food for species other than animals?”

 

Captain, a stoic black cat, sits in Kihyun’s lap as the man sits at a small, circular table, attention on everything other than finishing his tuna and egg sandwich fast enough so he can get back to work a little before his break ends.

Or, rather than it being on everything, it’s solely on Hyungwon lying in the middle of the floor, Misty and another kitten trying to play fight him. His laughter swings from frantic giggles to almost fatherly chuckles to loud cackles as he teases the kittens who pounce and bite. The open happiness on Hyungwon’s face — the way those round cheeks bunch up and tint a subtle pink, the way his eyes sparkle, the beautiful stretch of his full mouth...

It’s so pure, so mesmerizing.

Kihyun doesn’t notice Captain sitting up on his hind legs and swinging a paw at the sandwich in his hand.

“Ah,” he exhales when he feels a nail catch on the outside of his thumb. He pulls his hand away and glances at it to see the skin torn, a small bead of blood forming.

“Captain!”

Both Kihyun and the cat in his lap turn at the upset call.

Hyungwon is staring at them, a crease between his brows. Both kittens he was playing with catch the hint that he’s finished and former allies become foes. Hyungwon gracefully rolls onto his feet and begins to walk over to where Kihyun sits.

“It’s just a little scratch,” Kihyun tries to reassure. It doesn’t even hurt that much past a slight sting.

Hyungwon gets on his knees by Kihyun’s chair and stares at Captain. Hissing, he taps the cat’s nose with a light finger. “You know better than that,” he says and shifts out of the way to let Captain jump down from Kihyun’s lap. He turns his attention to the businessman next. “I’m really sorry.”

“I-It’s really nothing,” Kihyun mumbles, even as he lets the hybrid take his hand. “Just caught me off guard because you’re so cute, I was distracted.”

“Still, he knows not to—“ Hyungwon looks up from Kihyun’s hand. “What?”

Heat rushes from beneath Kihyun’s stuffy button down and tie and up into his ears. “I-I...that’s...I mean— You and the kittens. The way you were playing. It was cute.” He internally curses his stammering, hating that if he’s going to be completely endeared by Hyungwon that he can’t be cool about it.

Kihyun has half a mind to take his hand back but the way Hyungwon’s ears swivel atop his head, even though he doesn’t know enough about cats to decipher if that’s good or bad, also makes him want to pet between them.

It doesn’t help that Hyungwon begins to purr, the sound low and content between them, until the hybrid realizes he’s doing so and stops, removing one of his hands from Kihyun’s to touch the base of his throat.

“Well,” Hyungwon clears his throat of the gravelly quality purring left, “...thanks. The babies are real sweethearts.” His tail shifts behind him as he refocuses on the cut on Kihyun’s hand. “It doesn’t look too deep but there should be a band-aid in the first aid kit if you want it.”

Kihyun shakes his head, still wondering if it’s offensive to stroke a cat hybrid you’ve just met between the ears. Probably is. “It’s really fine. I’m not going to sue the cafe over this,” he says, chuckling. “You don’t have to look so worried over a scratch.” And then curiosity wins and he gently retracts his hand to card it through Hyungwon’s hair.

He grins unconsciously when Hyungwon leans into the touch. The flutter of Hyungwon’s eyes takes him by surprise but it’s the quiet mewl the hybrid makes that does it.

That steals a small piece of Kihyun’s heart and holds it for a very high ransom.

Hyungwon snaps out of it with a small flinch. His pupils expand, almost completely taking over the ruddy brown of his eyes and his ears flatten against his head.

The sudden rejection makes Kihyun pull away jerkily, a thousand and one apologies already beginning to spill over his lips.

“I’m sorry. That was incredibly rude of me. I don’t know what came over me.”

Lifting a hand to the back of his head, Hyungwon purses his lips and looks over Kihyun intently. “I’m not one of the cats for you to play with.” More than angered, he sounds confused. Cautious.

“I know,” Kihyun tries to remedy the situation. Misty comes over with an attention-seeking meow but neither acknowledge her. “I know you’re not.”

“Then?”

Kihyun wants to repeat that he doesn’t know, but he knows that’s not what Hyungwon wants to hear and he knows it’s not necessarily the truth. He also knows it’s much too early to give the simplest answer — the ‘I think you’re adorable and I’m strongly attracted to people who I think I can spoil’ answer.

“Oh.”

But it’s the one he ends up giving, straightforward yet without confidence.

Hyungwon’s swishing tail comes to a halt and his ears lift and turn outward, the tension bleeding out of him.

Licking over his lips nervously, Kihyun averts his eyes and rubs at the back of his neck. “Either way, it was extremely inappropriate of me to do that without your permission and I apologize.”

A strange silence passes between them, a little awkward, a little pink around the edges — just like the both of their faces. It’s broken by an indignant meow as Misty tries to hop into Kihyun’s lap.

Finally, they both glance down at the kitten.

“You’re needy,” Hyungwon whispers to her as Kihyun picks her up.

She comfortably settles into his arms, soon closing her eyes to rest.

Kihyun rubs a finger between her ears and coos. “I’m going to steal her from you.”

Hyungwon’s eyes turn fond and he smiles as he watches Misty try to bury her face in the crook of Kihyun’s elbow. “You can’t have her,” he says, “but you can come back tomorrow and...maybe you could have my number.”

The hybrid’s cheeks flush a candied pink at the statement but he meets Kihyun’s surprised gaze with one of bashful hope.

It takes a second for Kihyun to find his voice but he grins wide and nods. “I would like that.”

 

(When he makes it back to the office, five minutes before the end of his lunch break, he can’t find it in himself to be stressed over the number of emails in his inbox or the mountain of files to go through. And when his coworkers ask where his sudden good mood came from, the only answer he can give is: ‘apparently I like cats more than I thought I did.’)


End file.
